Will humans be able to give up sleep? Scientists think it’s possible

Do you want to sleep less and have more time? Scientists have found a way out and figured out how to reduce sleep time without health consequences. Together with Roman Buzunov, a somnologist and author of the book “How to Beat Insomnia? Healthy Sleep in Six Weeks” by Roman Buzunov, we find out if there is a catch.

Doctor of Medical Sciences, President of the Russian Society of Somnologists

This work can safely be called innovative, because the role of the cortex in sleep regulation has not been studied before.

What do scientists say?

To the delight of those who sleep a lot and always have no time for anything, researchers from Oxford have found a way to extend the period of wakefulness. The experiment, during which no animals were not harmed, was conducted on laboratory mice. The team of researchers studied their cerebral cortex, which makes up about 80% of its volume and controls many important processes in the body. This is the main part of the central nervous system, and it is responsible for information processing, perception, thinking, attention, memory. Research has shown that processes in the cerebral cortex are responsible for the sleep-wake cycle, for example, determining how long we sleep.

Scientists studied mice because their brains are similar to human brains in terms of anatomy. And they found “sleep switches” in it. We’re talking about special cells in one of the gyrus. When the authors of the work deactivated these small neurons, the rodents became awake every day for three hours longer than usual. In the long term, this would add three months of wakefulness to the mice, because they live about two years. By human standards, that’s about ten years.

Roman Buzunov

Doctor of Medicine, President of the Russian Society of Somnologists.

The results of a new study show that “switching off” certain parts of the cerebral cortex is associated with a decrease in the duration of sleep in laboratory mice. This work can safely be called innovative, because previously the role of the cortex in sleep regulation has not been studied. Moreover, it was believed that it was controlled only by subcortical structures that “oppose” the cortex in functional terms.

Today, sleep regulation for other brain structures is well studied. The cortex in this sense has not been considered at all. This is what makes this study interesting – the study of cortical regulation of sleep will definitely become a new scientific direction.